Six defense mechanisms

Projection

Disguising one"s own threatening impulses by attributing them to others

Denial

Refusing to believe or even perceive painful realities

Defense Mechanism

Unconscious process employed to avoid anxiety-arousing thoughts or feelings

Rationalization

offering self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening unconscious reasons for ones actions

Regression

retreating to a more infantile psychosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixated

Displacement

shifting sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threating object or person

Reaction formation

switching unacceptable impulses into their opposites